Christmas Partee
by JadOo
Summary: Christmas is here!! With the FoR members assembled at Kurei's house, what do we do with a jealous Mikagami, a drunken Joker, an undersized tree and a pair of cheeky twins? MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!


**Christmas Partee~  
**_An FoR Christmas Fic 2002_

Disclaimer: Neither Flame of Recca nor its characters belong to me…perhaps they belong to you…?

Lalala! Merry Christmas everybody! Just thought I'd be writing a little Christmas fic to celebrate the passing of exams and the coming of the new year and the season itself ^^

Blah…kinda did this in November…so it's sorta cold storage…sorry if it ain't as good as it's supposed to be…(writers tend to get better overtime. Hopefully.)

Hope you all will enjoy this fic J

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"CHEERS!" Fuuko and Joker announced in unison as two mugs of beer clashed, spilling some of the clear yellow liquid they held. The two wasted no time in gulping down the huge amount of beer and smacked their mouths when they were done.

"Joker-san, one more time!" Fuuko suggested, a slightly crazed grin plastered on her face. Joker willingly agreed and they helped themselves to a jug of beer that rested on a nearby table.

Neon could only shake her head in dismay as she cleared away the empty jugs; she had tried scolding the two already, but they were just too insistent on drinking to their hearts content. How she wished that Kurei could set a few more regulations during his big parties, then she would not have twice the job to do. Wordlessly, she brought four relatively lighter jugs back to the kitchen, wondering for a moment where Mikagami Tokiya was and why he was not keeping his girlfriend in check.

"YEECH!" Ganko squealed as some of Fuuko's beer spilled onto her dress. "Fuuko-nee, stop drinking already!" Her lips formed a cute pout as she attempted to wring the soaked area dry. Koganei grinned amusedly and watched her futile efforts before lending a hand. Ganko was, after all, like his little sister – he had to take care of her when Fuuko was not in the condition to do so.

He laid aside his Rubix cube and offered some paper towels to the girl; she received it graciously, tossing Fuuko a glare.

"Mou…" she complained as she dabbed at the stains, "why does she have to get so high…"

Koganei grinned. "I'd join them if I were older."

Ganko looked at him funny, but Koganei had no regrets in saying that. Fuuko, Recca, Mikagami and Joker were the people he admired, including Kurei. If they drank, he would not mind trying it just for the sake of it. They could hold their liquor, and they could fight well – just the perfect examples in his mind's eye. His gaze turned dreamy.

The blonde girl threw a used towel as him. "Oi! Ko.Gan.Nei! Don't expect too much!"

"It sure is rowdy…" came a familiar voice as their purple-hair ninja stepped into the room admiring the mess that had been made by Fuuko and Joker, not forgetting the pile of toys that lay scattered on the floor.

"Hn, a bunch of idiots…" a deep voice came, silencing Ganko and Koganei for just a moment.

"Kurei~!!" 

In a short moment Koganei and Joker were found in a pile on top of a mass of scarlet, with one arm ornamented with bangles threatening to burn them up. Koganei got up, grinning his fanged grin and watched amusedly as a drunk Joker wrapped his arms around Kurei's neck and snuggling into the flame casters chest.

"Joker-san!" a paper fan whacked him on the head as an infuriated Neon grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, hauling him off her "Kurei-sama'. It was not the best thing to do, for Joker soon turned his attention to her and began to hit on her too. She pushed him away, leaving him groaning on the floor. 

Fuuko giggled at the sight, and Raiha stifled a laugh.

Kurei got up, straightening his scarlet cloak as he did so; it had gotten messed up when Koganei and Joker had glomped him unexpectedly.

Fuuko grinned maniacally at him before turning her attention to Raiha. "So, what'd ya get?" she asked, pointing to a large paper bag in his arms. The two men relaxed on knowing that Fuuko was still sober enough to control herself.

"More decors," Raiha announced cheerily, holding out the bag to emphasize his point. "Yanagi-san requested for some more. By the way, where is she?" he queried upon realizing that the aforementioned was not in sight.

Fuuko jerked her thumb in a vague direction. "Recca, Yanagi-chan and Mi-chan are havin' a little problem gettin' the tree out. 'Seems that the tree is underneath a pile of assorted stuff…" 

"Oh," Raiha nodded his head in understanding; "I'll go help them then. Excuse me, Kurei-sama," he said as he placed the goods on the floor and departed from them.

"You've got a good ninja, Kurei. Treasure him," she advised as she clapped him on the shoulder and went on ahead to pull Joker back to where the table full of jugs stood.

Kurei knew that what she said was true. Raiha was indeed a good ninja, and the best one he had at that. Of course he treasured Raiha. His ninja had been through so much more with him than anyone else had. He was Kurei's bosom friend and confidant. No one knew him better than Raiha. 

No one.

"Any luck?"

Mikagami said nothing in response to the question. 

He had been hearing the same question thrice over since he had ventured into the dark recesses of Kurei's storeroom. He grit his teeth. It was a storeroom all right. Anything unneeded at any point of time seemed to have been flung into this confined space. The fact that Kurei's storeroom was larger than most did not help at all.

Recca should have been in here, stumbling over boxes and breaking through dusty cobwebs. But no-o, the ninja hated spiders and lizards, it seemed. And he would not leave his "Hime" outside. What crap he was full of.

"Found anything yet, Mikagami-sempai?"

Ah, Yanagi's voice sure calmed him down when it came to dealing with Recca. By doing this dirty job of finding the Christmas tree, he was providing Yanagi with a source of joy because the girl had so wanted to decorate the tree. But what really stumped him was that Kurei refused to get a new tree. It was probably to torture him, he had concluded.

To top it all, his girlfriend was having fun drinking to her heart's content with the biggest fool in the whole of Uruha. To think that she would actually abandon him to join Joker in a bout of fun… He swiped a cobweb away, angered by the thought. He would have to deal with Joker later…

He finally came to a rather tall box that had a stretch of white tape across it that screamed 'TREE'.

"I think I've found it," his reply finally came. In the hallway, Yanagi sighed, relieved.

"Hold on, Mikagami-san," came a new voice as a beam of light cut through the mass of black and found its way to where Mikagami stood. It was Raiha. He had a torchlight in hand. "There are many trees in Kurei-sama's storeroom. We have one for Halloween, one for Hanabata and well, you get the idea," the ninja explained as he approached. "The correct one should have a strip of bright green tape across it with Kirin's scrawl of 'Christmas Tree'."

Mikagami raised a brow. "So, this isn't it?" He wanted to make sure his hearing was in check. 

"I'm afraid so," the ninja smiled apologetically. 

Mikagami sighed. He would give just about anything to get out of this mess right now.

Domon shivered as a gust of chilly wind blew past him. 

He sneezed.

Aki and Miki sure were taking their time to buy the log cake and Christmas pudding.

It would not have been so bad if they had invited him to join them in the shop full of delicious food. But they insisted that he stay outside and wait until they were done with their selection. He had agreed, having no idea that they were taking this long.

He thought about it for a moment. They might have been doing this to him out of fun and deriving much amusement from his current state. But then again, they may have really been trying to make the best selection for their sister and master that they had forgotten about him. Ahh, what could he do? The two of them were just so sincere at times.

But it did not compensate his having to stand outside in the chilly winter evening and freezing to death.

He thought perhaps he should step in for a moment and see if everything was alright. 

The two of them would not mind that much, right? They would have been saving a human life, after all.

So he plucked the courage to step into the warm shop and into the sweet atmosphere of aromas. His mouth watered at all the cakes that were in delicious array upon the shelves.

"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" a young lady queried as she bowed in respect and out of habit.

"Err yes give me a…" he thought about what he should buy to fill his already growling stomach. Then remembered his original intention. "Sorry, but have you seen two young girls about this tall?" he gave an approximate height of Aki and Miki by gesturing in the air.

The shop lady contemplated for a moment, trying to remember the list of customers that had visited and matching them to the height description.

"Ah, yes," she finally announced. "They left just about an hour ago."

"Nani?" Domon stared hard. Had he heard wrongly?

"Yes, one with short blue hair and another with shoulder-length red hair, am I correct?" Domon nodded dumbly.

"They exited through the back door," the girl informed him; glad to have finished her job.

A sudden realization came upon Domon.

He left the store in a hurry and dashed back as fast as he could to the Uruha Mansion.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" screamed Ganko as she invited Fuuko, who was carrying a plateful of goodies, into the living room.

Mikagami and Raiha had found the tree after all, and Yanagi had wasted no time in putting up all the shiny ornaments and a wide banner that had 'Merry Christmas' in loopy cursive across its surface. The tree had turned out to be the one marked in green tape after all, but Mikagami had put it out of the question, because the spelling was so bad.

Kirin had scrawled 'Krismus 3' on the tape and stuck it right at the bottom of the box.

"Oh dear," Yanagi bit her lip, "Recca-kun, what shall we do with all the excess ornaments?"

"Have a *hic* orna-*hic*-ment fight," suggested a **very** drunk Joker as he emptied the contents of his beer mug down his throat.

"Why would we have extra ornaments?" Fuuko asked out of curiosity. "And where's the tree anyway?"

"Ummm…" Yanagi began, face flushing a shade of red. But Recca had the courtesy to step aside and allow Fuuko a good view…

…of the 2-foot-tall tree with scruffy needle-thin leaves poking out in all directions.

"T…that's our Christmas tree?"

It was unbelievable.

In fact, it was so hilarious that Fuuko and Joker burst out in wide laughter, pointing at the puny tree and laughing their heads off. Recca, who had not found it funny before due to the trouble taken, began to realize what was wrong and joined the two in their fun, causing his Princess to stifle a giggle. Yanagi felt most compelled to laugh with them, but held it in. It would be so mean after all the trouble Mikagami had gone through.

Alas, it was not long before the man himself made an appearance.

Feeling most grumpy that his final find was not up to standards, he scowled at the sight of Fuuko and Joker rolling on the floor in laughter. Mikagami folded his arms firmly across his chest and towered over the scene that the two were making.

His girlfriend grinned wryly when she had finally sobered a little.

"Boy, Mi-chan," she whooped, "you really outdid yourself."

"Yeah," agreed a not-so-sober Joker, "all that *hic* trouble for…for *hic* this…this tiny little tr-*hic*-ee that Kirin amused herself with…BWAHA-*hic*-HAHAHA!!!"

Mouth set in a grim line, he turned on his heel and was just about to walk away from the scene when the doorbell rang. A loud bang soon followed, and then a holler of, "LET ME IN!!"

"It's Domon-kun," Yanagi offered helpfully upon recognition of the voice.

A blur of blue and red zoomed past them, and was soon followed by Neon's despaired cries of "Aki, Miki, where are you going?"

With so many events happening, none of those in the living room had the time to react, so the master of the house did the job he rarely did.

Domon was just about to knock down the door when Kurei calmly turned the knob, resulting in the door swung dangerously towards Kurei, who jumped back on instinct, and so the door smashed into the wall. The poor door hung pathetically from its lower hinges and creaked pitifully.

Domon tumbled onto the floor, but got up in a jiffy.

"Where are those two?" he demanded, looking about in search as the rest stared back at him, bewildered.

"Domon, what the…" Fuuko remained mindful of her language and got off the floor, "who are 'those two'?"

"Those two little brats are gonna pay for…" began Domon when Neon's calling for her sisters were clearly heard in the hallway. "Trying to escape…why those two…"

The big-sized guy began storming in the direction of Neon's voice when Raiha held him back, his master at his side.

"Ishijima Domon," came Kurei's clear, calm and confident words, "I don't mind a little craziness and idiocy in this mansion, but harming of my subordinates is strictly out of the question." His left hand neared Domon threateningly. "Do you understand?"

Domon nodded in dumb response, and Raiha let him go.

Big mistake.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the Mongoloid cried wildly as he dashed straight into the once quiet hallways of the Uruha Mansion.

Fuuko watched with one raised eyebrow, then snatched up the nearest mug of beer and drowned the contents down her throat.

This was a party, what's the big deal about letting some loose.

"Bring on the *hic* saké, Raiha-han! It's about *hic* time!" declared an **extremely** drunk Joker as he slammed down five cards. "POKER!!" he announced smugly. "See if you can *hic* beat that, Fuuko-*hic*-han!"

"Too confident, Joker-san," the end of her lips twitched into a grin as she too flashed her cards. "ROYAL FLUSH!"

Joker looked disappointed but soon broke into a crazed smile. He would not mind more alcohol. If only Neon would join them in this little game of poker, and then maybe he would go a little further. But it was not worth it since his desired partner was not around, probably furtively trying to hide her sisters.

The purple-hair ninja soon returned with five jugs of saké, all well balanced on his firm arms.

"Joker-san," he advised as he placed the jugs in front of his friend, "it would do you well to stop soon…"

"What the dilly," Joker promptly ignored his friend as he reached for a jug of saké.

Raiha frowned and stepped back, "Don't say I didn't warn you…"

As soon as Joker had tasted the 'saké', he spat the liquid and a string of colourful language out. "What the &%^$ is this!?" 

Curious, Fuuko took a jug and drank some of it. 

"It's water," she announced and laid the jug back down, giving Raiha a mischievous wink. He returned it with a smile.

Mikagami, who happened to be sitting on a couch and watching their little game from the corner of his eye, grimaced at the exchange between Fuuko and the ninja.

He gripped the page of his magazine till his knuckles turned white

This was getting too far.

Koganei looked up from his game with Ganko, took pity on the magazine and then returned to Ganko, pretending not to notice.

The page, unable to take Mikagami's wrath any longer, ripped.

"Owwwwwww, where are you *hic*taking me?" Fuuko whined as she was dragged most unmercifully away from her drinking game with Joker.

Mikagami frowned and tightened his grip on Fuuko's wrist, causing her to whimper even more. He ignored her cries of pain and instead quickened his pace. Nothing could express his fury right now. To think that she would lose herself in such an orgy and completely forget him on top of that… Perhaps with Fuuko gone, Joker would sober a little and become less of a nuisance to him and everyone else in the mansion. And maybe he would also remember to whom Fuuko belonged. Mikagami hated the thought of being such a male chauvinist and insisting on using such terms, but bother Joker and Fuuko needed to know exactly where the line was.

He finally stopped at one of the many balconies in Kurei's mansion. The cool night air did nothing to calm his anger, but the scent of roses that lingered in the air reminded him of his sister. His thoughts flew to his sister, but were soon snatched away when he realised that Fuuko was trying to escape his grip.

"Let me go!" she demanded, mind seemingly clearer than before. "Let me go or I'll *hic* kill you!"

"In your current state, I'd rather not release you," he stated coldly, bluntly. His brows narrowed at the reminder why they were here in the first place.

"Let me go…*hic* please~" she begged pitifully, going so far as to let her knees buckle in preparation to hit the ground.

But Mikagami was no fool. He jerked her up in one swift movement.

"Mi-chan~" unlike her usual self, Fuuko's cobalt eyes grew big and watery. Mikagami turned his face away. "Fine. You *hic* asked for it."

He had barely a second to blink when her free hand brought itself down on his shoulder, in hopes of causing his grip to loosen. It did, but he quickly made use of his other hand – this time, a single hand held two smaller fists in bondage. He rolled his injured shoulder back. That had been a bit too much.

"Why won't you *hic* let me go?" she pleaded. Once again, he refused to watch her pitiful state.

"Look at you, you're drunk," he finally blurted.

"I know…*hic*"

"And you still want to drink!?" he roared, causing her to jump back a little. He caught himself and muttered a soft 'sumen'.

He let silence settle. He would have lost control if he went any further. It seemed as though Fuuko had no idea how to respond either.  
"You shouldn't let yourself go wild. Especially around creeps like Joker," he finally said, hard eyes looking down at the rose garden beneath them.

"Cre-*hic*-ep? Joker isn't a creep…" she began. Calling one of the best drinkers a creep…Mikagami was being a bit unreasonable. "Tokiya…what are *hic* you…"

She stared and observed his deep frown and his aversion of her eyes. A smirk found its way onto her lips.

"Ohhhh- *hic*-ohhhhh…I get it…" she grinned…and hiccupped. "Mi-chan is *hic* Jea~lous~~"

Feeling nothing short of irritable, Mikagami snapped back at her. "So I am. And what about that?"

His grip on her hands grew firmer. His nails bit into her skin.

Fuuko winced. "Woi… calm *hic* down Tokiya…"

He threw her fists down and gripped the balustrade instead. 

How could he tell her about this… this poison that ran deep in his veins. About how he was easily ticked whenever other men got friendly with her. Fuuko seemed to know not the meaning of jealousy. No matter how the girls in school swooned over him and practically flung themselves at him, she never appeared to be mad. Her expression was always amused. A smile, a smirk would grace her lips as she walked past him, not at all trying to help him out in such a predicament. Instead, she would tease him about it later on, and even reap some benefits from the gifts given to him in unknown love and adoration.

"Tokiya…" She nursed her hands subconsciously, gazing at him with a troubled expression. "I didn't *hic* think… I me-*hic*-an… Joker is the *hic* only person willing to dri-*hic*-ink with me… Sumen."

She made it sound as though drinking was her life. Sure, Fuuko enjoyed a bit of wildness in parties, getting a tad bit drunk (she was usually sober to a good extent) and letting everyone have some legal fun. Mikagami's frown deepened. There was no excuse for that.

"You could have asked me," he mumbled under his breath.

She smiled. "Nah, that ain't *hic* like you at all *hic*…"

"But if you *hic* want to…" A bright grin symbolized a fearful idea. He shuddered as Fuuko took his hand off the balustrade and interlaced her fingers with his, "we can *hic* always let you *hic* join…"

Mikagami was forced against his will as she promptly dragged him back to the party where Joker was still drowning himself.

Neon could feel herself jump as she heard footsteps near her. 

Beside her were two trembling figures. They held death grips on either of her arms.

She bit her lip in the dark and stuffy room. There was barely enough space for one person, much less three humans. It was a good thing that her sister's were rather small in size as compared to her.

"Nee-chan…" Aki whispered. Neon nearly jumped out of her skin. "Another one fell on me."

"Me too," Miki agreed, clutching her sister's arm even tighter. If they were not her sisters, Neon would have flung them off her; they were cutting off her circulation.  
"Shh…someone's coming…" she shushed them, and for a long moment, all three held their breaths.

The footsteps stopped right outside their door. 

The plank of wood was all that stood between them and death now.

Neon's heart skipped a beat when she heard the creak of the doorknob.

She had completely forgotten to lock it. She tried reaching her arm up, the round metal seemingly important in such a moment. She was begging that they would not be found. It was a fearful creature they were up against. She willed her arm to extend towards the bronze whilst trying to ignore Aki's grabbing at her dress. 

Just a little bit more and she would be there. Her fingertips were barely centimetres away from the knob when it had made a complete turn.

She lost her balance and toppled forward, pulling Aki and Miki down with her. 

All of Koganei and Ganko's old toys followed their suit and soon they were covered in a pile of soft toys and other assorted children's playthings.

At the foot of the pile was a pair of heavy black leather boots.

"You should have picked a better place," she heard his deep voice say as lithe fingers rubbed ointment on her injured shin. She could feel a blush creep up onto her face, and bit her lip, hoping it would go away. It would be so disgraceful, especially in his presence.

"Gomennasai, Kurei-sama." There was no reason to apologise, but she did so out of habit. For many years she had been saying 'sorry' every single time she screwed up. And often, the apology was met with hard, cold eyes of Kurei, who would frown and walk away.

But this was different.

"You should have known that Ishijima Domon's temper tantrums don't last for long." Yes, she should have. In fact, she should have even known that letting her sisters go and bring back the log cake with him was a bad idea. They tended to let mischievousness be their master. She should have known that the storeroom was the worst place to hide. Her fingers clenched at the knowledge of her stupidity.

"Next time, don't let Aki or Miki go out unsupervised." She nearly hated the way Kurei was chiding her. It was not as if she did not know what to do. Sure, he was her master, but that didn't mean that she was his computer, devoid of feelings or common sense. He should treat her like a human being, if not a woman.

"You should…"

"Stop telling me what to do!"

Kurei's hands stopped short as he looked up at her. Neon herself was blinking. What had she just said? Did she just shout at him? What on earth had possessed her to do so? She swallowed hard. How was she going to apologise this time? Her heart pounding madly in fear of the punishment he would give her, she looked away, refusing to meet his eyes.

Kurei said nothing. He finished the last of treating her wounds and put the medical equipment back into the first-aid box. He kept silent, closing the lid.

"Sumennasai," she finally said. She got up, adjusted her skirt and took a bow. "Arigatou, Kurei-sa– "

"No, you shouldn't be apologizing." Kurei regretted saying that almost immediately. Again, he was telling her what to do. He had been doing that since she first step foot into the household. On their mission debriefs, he would point out every error that they made. And now, even when things were supposed to have reverted to normal, he was still telling her what or what not to do.

Neon stammered, "but…but I-I screwed up…"

"Everyone makes mistakes." Somehow, Kurei found himself saying foreign words. He himself had always rejected that excuse. A perfectionist such as he never accepted that. Only for one person in his life had he allowed such a thing; she was most perfect in his eyes – even her mistakes were perfect. 

_Kurenai…_

Kurei turned on his heel and walked away from Neon, towards one of the many rosebushes in the garden. Kurenai. Scarlet. He always wondered on how her name suited her - The colour of roses - a deep, fiery and passionate colour. He bit his lip as he remembered the flame being that existed within his body. His calloused fingertips brushed against the smooth, silken red petals of the flower.

Neon could tell immediately that Kurei was reminiscing about his past. Her surprise from his words turned into deep jealousy. She was jealous of a dead person, of an inhuman flame spirit. Not that she hated Kurenai. Oh no, she had loved Kurenai with a sisterly love. When the woman suffered such a cruel death, she had cried most pitifully. There was no reason why her master should not remember such a lovely mistress. But whenever it came down to this, Kurenai was the only thing that stood between her and Kurei, the only cause for her unrequited love.

Kurei fingered the red rose. It had been the symbol of his secret with Kurenai; it had been the root cause of the start of their relationship. A single rose could remind him of her glorious laughter; it always healed him from the inner guilt he suffered after going on blood-spilling missions. 

But, then again, there was the woman who nurtured all these flowers to bloom. Without her, there would have been no flowers. He drew his fingers back. 

He had always thought it wrong to forget Kurenai. He had never opened his heart up to anyone but her. To everyone else, save Raiha, he was bitter, cheating, ruthless and bloodthirsty. Only to his two confidants would he speak his innermost secrets. In fact they knew him so well. His flame knew exactly what to do. His ninja could read his heart like a book. But Neon, Neon had always wanted to know him. This, Kurei knew very well. His flute-player was always there for him; he just never went to her.

_Kurenai, you would forgive me for this…_

Neon stifled a sob and was about to flee when Kurei grasped her hand. "Neon… forgive me…"

"Iya, I should be asking for forgiveness. I'm always screwing up. I am never there when you need me. I don't keep my sisters under wraps. I'm too clumsy in missions. I couldn't even defeat Hokage when you had wanted me to. I still can't get Joker to stop being a drunken fool and I can never ever do what Raiha does. And I've even broken the Fukyo Waon that you gave to me, not even getting a chance to use the full blast of its powers. I couldn't prevent Jisho from being killed by Magensha. And I-" Her rambling came out in gushes. The long string of words joined in no particular order spelled out everything she had ever done wrong and blamed herself for. Kurei's brow narrowed into a frown as he realised for once all the pain and self-blamed guilt Neon had gone through.

She stopped short when Kurei's arms wrapped around her in a firm embrace. 

"No one has ever blamed you for those deaths or mess-ups. Things happen, you can't deny that. No one is without errors Neon; it's only errors that make us human."

Neon swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall and buried her face in Kurei's shoulder. The sweet incense of roses clouded the garden. And as a loud bang was heard, Kurei released her, only to find that a large Christmas tree was in the air.

Neon smiled at the fireworks in the dark sky.

For once, she did not feel irked by ninja-wannabe's actions.

"All right!" whooped Recca as he picked up another firework. "That was beautiful, ne, Hime?"

Yanagi nodded, smiling most sweetly.

"It's a bit loud though, Recca-kun," she said, hoping that he would not take that harshly.

"Un," agreed the ninja-wannabe. "But, hell, who cares?"

They were in Kurei's backyard and making full use of the fireworks that had been brought along. Recca had figured since they had a puny Christmas tree, might as well make up for it with an extra large one. Yanagi had most willingly agreed to help him out in the cool night air of Christmas.

"Okay," he huffed as he bent over to light the firework, "now for the red ornaments…"

*bang*

The firework shot up into the sky and exploded, adding red balls to the Christmas tree in the air.

"Don't forget the most important thing!" Yanagi reminded, handing him another firework.

Recca grinned and thanked his princess, loading the lighted firework after which.

Another blast and the firework was in the air, bursting into a bright yellow star.

"Koganei, the angel's missing…" Ganko pouted as she searched for the angel ornament. There was no way on earth that the Uruhas would throw away the angel that was always on top of the tree.

"Don't see it." The junior-high boy was in a corner, watching her as he jumbled up his Rubix cube and put it back together.

She threw a green sphere at him and complained that he was not helping. Everyone else hadn't really bothered to fix up the Christmas tree after Joker had accidentally knocked it over. And Ganko was so excited about doing up the tree since it had been a while, and the adults usually never let her have the honour of putting the angel at the topmost point of the tree. Now that there was a tree that was preferably shorter than her, she was most elated.

After five minutes of tedious search (without her 'Big Brother's' help), she finally found the angel underneath a snoring Joker's arm. She frowned at the grown man then went back to her initial job – putting the angel on top.

She showed Raiha her masterpiece and he patted her on the head, congratulating her for her marvelous piece of art. 

On the couch, Fuuko had also fallen asleep.

Mikagami frowned at the drool that was accumulating on his expensive shirt. Fuuko was least graceful, letting her mouth hang open and snoring softly. He reached into his pocket, trying hard not to awake the sleeping girl, and wiped the corner of Fuuko's mouth, and then his shirt.

Like she had promised, Fuuko let him join in their little drinking game. But Mikagami had stopped after his first three mugs; he had begun to feel a bit woozy, and there had been an unsettling feel in his stomach. Fuuko, however had persevered until Joker, who could by then no longer take the alcohol, fell defeated, knocking over the tiny tree as he did so. Feeling bored, the girl went over to where Mikagami had been sitting, and peered over his magazine. That's when she fell asleep on his shoulder.

Mikagami shook his head and chided Fuuko's actions.

Even though the girl was in an unconscious state, he whispered into her ear and told her how pissed he had been earlier on. Her sleepy face let out a tired smile before returning back to soft snores.

Lip twitching into a smile, Mikagami kissed her forehead. 

A loud bang signalled Recca's fooling around with his fireworks, but as the humongous Christmas tree came into sight, his countenance softened, and he remembered the season it was.

He watched as the bright yellow star came into sight. 

A little larger and more disintegrated than the one seen in Bethlehem, but nonetheless, meaningful.

Indeed, this was Christmas.

This was when the greatest gift of forgiveness, the greatest gift of love was sent down from heaven and to all mankind.

~*OWARI*~

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Hope you liked it~

~~~MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL~~~

Ooh, one more thing, I'm not encouraging people to get drunk or play tricks on Christmas or anything. Kids, don't try this at home, it ain't safe, ya hear?

Okay, you can go open the presents now…

© Copyrighted by JadOo Enterprises 2002


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